Why Twitter and Facebook are stockpickers’ friends (Telegraph)
Does Twitter make a difference to trading? Can Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) make you a fortune? A trading company is launching the first platform that will show you how the companies you are investing in are performing in social media terms. Derwent Capital Management (DCM), which used to run a hedge fund based on Twitter feeds, said it wanted to “create a community of better informed traders”.
SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Index returns 10.32% (gross) in 2012; January net flows decline 2.58% over December (Opalesque)
The gross return of the GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index for December 2012 measured 1.27% (10.32% YTD gross). Hedge fund flows as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index declined 2.58% in January 2013. Cumulatively, the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index for January 2013 stands at 146.93 points, a decrease of 2.58 points over December 2012. The Index has advanced 6.58 points over the past 12 months. The next publication date is February 13, 2013.
Hedge Fund Zais Plans $140 Million REIT IPO (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund Zais Group plans to list its real-estate investment trust in an initial public offering worth up to $140 million. Zais Financial Corp. filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange last week. The year-and-a-half old REIT is managed by Zais REIT Management, a division of Red Bank, N.J.-based Zais.
Hedge Fund Fraudster Hu To Be Sentenced (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund fraudster Albert Hu should spend almost 20 years in prison for ripping off investors of $6.5 million, prosecutors told the federal judge who will sentence him. Hu was convicted in July of wire fraud and faces up to 24 years in prison. By that measure, prosecutors are being lenient: They recommended U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte send Hu away for 19½ years—the low end of federal sentencing guidelines.
Diluted draconian measures still contain some significant bite (eFinancialNews)
Its draconian proposals included hard leverage caps for managers, a freeze on all non-European Union managers accessing EU investors, strict liability on custodians for losses and very strict controls on delegation, where firms are a fund manager in theory but delegate all responsibilities to third parties. One hedge fund participant close to Brussels said: “It’s gone from being potentially fatal to very burdensome and fiddly.”
SAC may face civil fraud claims in US (ChinaDaily)
HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HBC)‘s private bank advised clients to not add money to Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP amid a US government insider-trading investigation into the hedge fund, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The bank made the recommendation to some clients last month after SAC disclosed that regulators may file civil fraud claims against it, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. SAC, based in Stamford, Connecticut, has told some employees and outside advisers that it expects investors to withdraw at least $1 billion, or 17 percent of the money it manages for outside clients, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Hedge-Fund Leverage Rises to Most Since 2004 (BusinessWeek)
Hedge funds are borrowing more to buy equities just as loans by New York Stock Exchange brokers reach the highest in four years, signs of increasing confidence after professional investors trailed the market since 2008. Leverage among managers who speculate on rising and falling shares climbed to the highest level to start any year since at least 2004, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley. Margin debt at NYSE firms rose in November to the most since February 2008, data from NYSE Euronext show.
